The Team
Alex
Veteran
Engineer
Professional Goon
From a young age Alex has always strived to find adventure anywhere it can be found. After attending first grade in New Zealand his eyes were opened to the excitement that exploration brings. Once he returned home to the Santa Cruz mountains in California, Alex was fortunate enough to have endless room to explore in the redwoods that surrounded the house, typically disappearing as soon as the sun got up and only returning home once he knew there was something good to eat in the kitchen. Adventure did not end in those forests. Around 10 he became very involved in riding horses, though he routinely rode his horse without a saddle or bridle throughout all the trails around town, eventually stumbling upon another ranch where he discovered the world of roping. After hanging around for what seemed like ages, he eventually convinced the ranch to offer him a job which he worked at all the way through the end of high school.
Like all his friends, Alex was excited to move away and start college, but after one semester of boring classes and no adventure, he quit and decided to join the military. And with the military came the chance for more adventure. His military career started like everyone else, attending basic training and job training, but then he volunteered for Airborne School. There he got his first taste of real excitement as there is nothing quite like falling out of a perfectly good airplane. After spending some time with his unit, he volunteered to go to Afghanistan for a one-year deployment and ended up extending for a total of 18 months! While Afghanistan was filled with many highs and many lows, it continued to spur Alex’s adventurous spirit.
After Afghanistan Alex finally decided it was time for college and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Attending school in Utah was the perfect place to continue explore the mountains while keeping up with schoolwork. During that time, he and Debby worked hard to plan for Kilimanjaro and less than a year after graduation finally took their first steps on the road to the Seven Summits! Today he lives by the phrase “No F*****g Slack” as he trains for the next summit, Aconcagua, in December of 2021.
Debby
Adventurer
Dentist
Badass Mom
Adventure takes many forms. As a native San Franciscan Debby’s earliest adventures included hiking the hidden staircases of San Francisco, riding cable cars and Muni busses and volunteering at the San Francisco Zoo. Working with primates at the zoo lead to a life long love of Africa and a drive to go experience this beautiful continent in person. At the age of 18 (never having been out of the US), Debby was able to explore Kenya through hiking and backpacking including making it to the summit of Mt Kenya. While in the Masai Mara, it was there that Debby saw a glimpse of the snow capped Mt Kilimanjaro and the dream to return to Africa and climb Kili lasted for the next 40 years!
Debby was busy during those years. After Kenya, there were trips to live and work in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia where she was able to join a research group following orangutans in Northern Sumatra. Two kids, a degree in Biology followed by dental school and plenty of adventure in between lead to a return trip to Africa in Feb 2020 and the summit of Kili! It was this trip that gave Debby and Alex the motivation and confidence to consider future summits. Aconcagua is scheduled for December 2021. Stay tuned. Never give up.
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